Chapter 4
Success Is Your Duty
One of the greatest turning points in my life occurred when I stopped casually waiting for success and instead started to approach it as a duty, obligation, and responsibility. I literally began to see success as an ethical issue—a duty to my family, company, and future—rather than as something that may or may not happen to me. I spent 17 years getting a formal education that was to prepare me for the world—and not one course was on success. Not once did anyone talk to me about the importance of success, much less what I had to do in order to get it. Amazing! Years of education, information, hundreds of books, time in class, and money, yet I was still missing a purpose.
However, I was fortunate enough to have two distinct experiences in my life that served as major wake-up calls. My existence and survival were being seriously threatened in both cases. The first occurred when I was 25. My life was a pitiful mess, caused by years of approaching life aimlessly, drifting with no real purpose or focus. I had no money, plenty of uncertainty, no direction, too much free time, and still hadn't made a commitment to approach success as an obligation. Had I not had this realization and gotten serious about my life, I don't think I would be alive today. You know, you don't need to grow old to die. I was dying at the age of 20 as a result of no direction and no purpose. At that time, I couldn't hold a job, had surrounded myself with losers, was terminally hopeless, ...
